Theandric Thursday # 4: Living the dream.. part 2!

Theandric Thursday is a fortnightly feature on my blog, where I'll be having fun with putting down those weird thoughts and stories that occupy my mind most of the times. The dictionary definition of 'Theandric' is 'Relating to the joint agency of the divine and human nature'.

If you're interested in participating, write your own Theandric Thursday post and drop your link in the comments section. Feel free to write reality, part-reality-part-fiction or fiction, anything above the 'normality' of our world. ;) You can use the above picture on your post and link back to this post.


Hey, I know I was supposed to post this last week, but you know what I'm going through, right? Some sympathy please. ;) As it is, this part of the story is very long. So I won't chit chat more, you just leave whatever you're doing and read this! :P

This story is continued from TT post #3, Living the dream...and something else.

***

I hadn’t realized when it got so cold. I was shivering, but maybe that was only fear. As much as they were terrifying, my eyes were still drawn to the four white, beautiful creatures towering over me. Who was this one? Blond hair, almond shaped brown eyes and red lips forming a tight line.

“I’ve seen you before!” I blurted out, not being able to control that emotion anymore. If I’m already stuck with these weirdos, I might as well know who they are.. or what. The female stepped perilously close and snapped, “Oh Goddamit! Not again! Does this look like a fancy party to you?” I winced. She was too close for comfort. I could feel the distinct smell of salt in her. Weird. “Just shut your questions and tell me, what is it that Lomar’s after?”

Despite all the nerves, I couldn’t help being surprised. Lomar. It was a very familiar word.... a very familiar name. Though, there isn’t really anyone I know who’s called Lomar. It was a distinct memory, something I thought I could put behind if I never thought about it again, I didn’t want to. If these creatures are connected to him, I was sure I was in for something really unpleasant.

“I don’t want to talk about it” I barely whispered. But that was enough. She was literally nose to nose. This wasn’t the response she was after, I realized as she caught me by the shoulders and pressed her nails into my skin. “You’ll have to. There’s no time. Tell me now!” she hissed, her salty breath on my cheeks. The next moment, she released me. The familiar guy, whom I decided to call FG in my head, stepped forward.

I might have missed what he said had I not been looking at him, he spoke so softly. You would think it was just one of those lost words and whispers carried by the wind. “Listen, I look like Liam Hemsworth, don’t I?” Gosh! That’s it! I’d been gaga over that character ever since I saw the Hunger Games! What is Liam Hemsworth of all people up in a tree house with me, not to forget three other scary creatures and doesn’t even look like a human!

“But,” I stuttered. He was unsmiling when he put up his hand all tired-like, as if I’d already exhausted him, and continued. “I’m not him, of course, which is where our truth comes in. We’re ancient Aymara* people who...” He stopped seeing my awed expression, since I was sure my jaw had dropped listening to the words ‘ancient’ and ‘Aymara’. He continued and I noticed his voice had taken on a slightly higher pitch. “Hey! Don’t go on looks. I know this must be hard for you but you have to understand. And that would be easier if you just listened to me, alright?” He settled himself on one of the soft pillows, so we were face to face. I didn’t fail to notice the female twitch, though. The other two simply stood staring at FG, whom now I mentally referred to as LLH, short for ‘Lookalike of Liam Hemsworth’. I nodded and he spoke. “Maybe you don’t know, but Aymara are traditionally people living in and around Lake Titicaca in South America, since centuries before outsiders discovered our abode in 1535. Our great ancestors did their best to make them leave us alone, but they wouldn’t budge. They loved the Lake, but only because it’s a convenient waterway for their big steamers, not for reasons our ancestors worshipped the Lake and worked so hard to preserve its sanctity.

Lake Titicaca. Pic courtesy: The all mighty Google!

 “Anyway, there was one particular outsider who found an unnaturally high interest in our beliefs. Our ancestors knew better, of course. He wasn’t someone to be trusted, they could look right through his pretence. He pretended to be interested in becoming one of us, he said he wanted to worship our Lord, Viracocha*. They tried all means to send him away to his country and when our ancestors were successful, they celebrated. However, the celebration didn’t last long, for the land was swarming with bloodsuckers a few days later. They came in hundreds and started killing our people off. The few of our ancestors who managed to survive by running to their special hiding places, later realized that the creatures were vampires sent by the intruder, who was agitated at being turned down. The Aymaras, furious at their loss, tracked down the intruder and killed him off. They returned to their land, which now reeked of blood and loss and worse, a few hundred of their population who were just bitten, not killed. Those bitten were kept in cellars and behind bars for a while.

“You can imagine the plight of the ancestors; they had to keep their own wives, husbands, friends and children, tied up and confined because they suspected they would be dangerous. However, the bitten ones, like they were called in those days, never showed signs of meanness, anger or evil. The ancestors thanked their Lord, for they believed that the magic, love and purity of their lord Viracocha was too powerful for vampires. There were signs, of course. They looked different, like vampires, to be precise. Like us. Thus was created a new mix, and we were born to our parents almost 60 years ago. We have a mixed blood, so we grow very slowly. Sometimes we get bored with the way we look, so we sneak up to humans in different countries, take a part of their skin and through a painless process, we start looking like them. Anyway, a few years ago, as was predicted by our ancestors, we had some intruders. They didn’t attack, but one of them wanted to be a part of our community. We aren’t as smart as our ancestors, but we know their teachings. This was almost like the case of the previous intruder, just Deja Vu, and so we tried to capture and kill this one before he could leave. Nasty business, but we couldn’t have vampires raiding our land again. Due to a real sad case of inattentiveness, the intruder escaped.

“You know what happened then, don’t you?” LLH spoke like wind. The way he said, it wasn’t a question. It was a fact I had to acknowledge. He put one hand on my knee and as I glanced down, I saw how bad I was shaking. There were goosebumps on my arms and I had trouble breathing. I realized he was trying to calm me down. How touching. What did he say about his age? 60? Damn! Before I knew, I was speaking in a voice that seemed totally unlike my own, a mechanical one like a robot. “I’ve seen all this many months ago. All in my dreams, or call them nightmares, for that’s what they were. This whole story you recited, you could’ve saved your breath, I know this. I saw this. He stayed on the land 10 days, hiding in a spot very near your shrine of Lord Viracocha. One night, seeing his opportunity, he dived into the Lake and stayed there 5 hours 49 minutes, finally emerging with a golden cup laid with silver at the rim, kissed it once and took off. The Aymaras didn’t realize something was wrong until after a few months when their people started suffering. There were health problems and they had a hard time performing the simplest of magic. Their prayers weren’t answered. All this while, he misused the power and made hundreds of slaves. That intruder is Lomar, who’s been torturing people all over the world.” I finished speaking. All was quiet as they all stared at me. Some parts of this story must be new to them, I thought.

The female was the first to recover. “I can’t believe this! A human?” She used the word as if it was like acid on her tongue. LLH leaned forward, making me shiver involuntarily. “Are you sure that’s what Lomar took? Our Lord’s most precious tool?” His voice was almost breaking, as if he couldn’t believe something of this magnitude could ever happen. “I didn’t know that’s Viracocha’s most precious tool, but that’s what I saw,” I whispered. He brushed his hand over his blond head, the one that was on my knee, I realized with a pang, an expression of agony distorting his features. I had to blink twice and shake my head to understand what he was saying next. “You realize we tracked you down with great difficulty. There was certainly a glitch in Lomar’s plan. Your dreams and your head wasn’t affected by the immunity curse he spread all over.” He smiled. “You’re special, you know that?” I couldn’t help smiling.

“All right!” came a harsh voice and the female, whom I mentally called the SI, short for ‘Stupid Intruder’, pulled LLH up by her side and continued, “We’re going to track him down, because you don’t possibly know where he is, do you?” I shook my head. “Fine” she snapped, turned away and held LLH’s arm, pulling him along with her, out of my tree house. Thankfully, LLH had the sense to stop and say something. “Hey, you know your information is immensely helpful. I’ll try... I mean,” he glanced back with a shy smile, “we will try our best not to come looking for you again. Hopefully, we’ll have Lomar killed before you next go to sleep.” He winked, smiled and stepped down the ladder Xavi made. His cronies followed him dully. Huh, interesting company he keeps, I thought.

I peeked over the side of the tree house, but couldn’t see LLH or SI or anyone anymore. Seeing a shadow of movement on the left, I snapped my head over to that side, only to see Xavi looking angry. “You were supposed to meet me at 7!” he called from below. “We’ll be late for dinner. Better get down here right now and don’t whine all the way when I ask you to walk faster!” Great. I wished LLH could be here, if only for his speed and strength, so I wouldn’t have to walk all the way with my over-sentimental brother. As we walked anyway, I let my mind wander to Lake Titicaca, Aymaras and their Lord Viracocha, the white and bearded representative of the Sun on Earth, carrying all his worshippers’ troubles in his gold and silver magical cup. I found myself wishing LLH would find and execute Lomar, that demon, and retrieve the cup.

So many things happen in life, that you can’t really keep track of it all. That’s why some information is repeated to you in your dreams so that when the time comes for a varied breed of an ancient magical community to visit you for information, you’d know what to say.

***

*Aymaras are real people in Lake Titicaca who really worship Lord Viracocha. The story’s mine, of course, based on what I read about the Aymara people. Nothing like the sort happened, really. :P The inspiration came when I was reading about Lake Titicaca in the book, 'Discovering the Wonders of our World' by Reader's Digest. 

PS- Please. Do. Not. Kill. Me. For. This. Crazy. Story. And. The. Length. I mean, you have to understand, right? I’ve written something after weeks! The weight of emotions would be something! ;)


Read Usama's awesome Theandric Thursday post 'The Girl at the Bus Stop'